Trump needs "the Squad"

[DonViejo]

Trump reunited the Democrats to further his narrative.

By Ezra Klein @ezraklein Jul 16, 2019, 9:30am EDT

Over the past few days, Trump waded into the spat between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib — “the Squad.” The fight between the Democratic leadership and the group of progressives was getting out-of-hand, with accusations of racism and increasing inflammatory sniping from anonymous aides. Trump, in a blaze of Tweets, neatly united the Democrats at a moment when their divisions threatened to deepen into schisms. Now, instead of fighting with each other, House Democrats are voting to censure the President for racist remarks. Perhaps Pelosi owes him a gift basket.

But in unifying House Democrats against him, Trump unified them around the Squad, and raised their profile — AOC, Omar, Pressley, and Tlaib are getting even more coverage this week than they were last week, exactly what Pelosi was trying to avoid, and exactly what conservative media has been trying to achieve.

There are two ways of thinking about this outcome. One cuts American politics into the traditional Republican-Democrat divide. In this telling, Pelosi and the Democrats are Trump’s foremost antagonists, and in bridging their divides, he weakened himself. The other views American politics through the lens of demographic change and the white identity politics it triggers. In this view, by uniting Democrats in defense of the Squad and against his racist attacks, Trump rescued a narrative crucial to his political appeal and the reactionary politics he represents.

Let’s back up. This controversy started with a series of calculated comments by Pelosi meant to diminish the Squad. “All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world,” Pelosi told the New York Times. “But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.” Unlike Trump, Pelosi chooses her words with care, so notice the argument she was actually making. The idea was that their centrality in social media, and on cable news, is misleading. They get retweets, but they can’t command votes. Their power is illusory, and thus their coverage unmerited.

This reflects a particularly deep source of frustration House Democrats feel towards the Squad. From the perspective of most House Democrats, who claw and scrap for press coverage, and the House Democratic leadership, which tries desperately and ineffectually to coordinate messaging, the Squad is composed of four backbench, frosh members who don’t lead committees, represent swing districts, or control big blocs of votes. And yet every time you turn on the TV, or read an op-ed, or fire up Twitter, there’s the Squad.

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https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/7/16/20695031/trump-ocasio-cortez-omar-pressley-tlaib-pelosi-squad

[uponit7771]

1. For his non critical mass base, yes he does need the squad

[awesomerwb1]

2. Of course he does.

Was on Twitter yesterday and read the new talking points about Dems.

The "Democrat&quot sic) party being taking over by far left wing radicals (or communists).

Communists. (Even Lindsay Graham).

I hope the ladies are smart enough to not take the bait every time these idiots attacks them like this. It's going to keep going until Nov. 2020 and beyond.

A united Democratic Party wins. Let's fight together folks.